Definitely the most cohesive and satisfying a Gran Turismo game has been as an overall package in a long time, even if there's definitely still a lot of flaws here.
I like the Cafe system and the way it handles progression, which I think is a slightly hot take. It's pretty far from the "caRPG" grind progression that GT made its name on, and the game does kinda vomit cars at you, but it's satisfying to get those cars and you do roughly get better and better cars as it goes on, so the progression isn't completely absent. Probably not for nothing that this is actually the first GT game where I've seen the career through to the credits.
And the game makes really good use out of the PS5 hardware as well. Not only in the obvious that the game is absolutely stunning, a candidate for the best looking racing game ever made, but also in justifying that SSD. Seriously, this series has had absolutely brutal load times since the PS3, and it's crazy to play an entry where loading into a race takes about half a second. The fact that getting in and out of menus is also super snappy helps make up for the parts where they're laid out in a clunky matter. (Seriously, why do I have to back out to the garage to tune the car instead of just doing it from the parts shop?_
Core racing feels about as solid as GT's ever been, and while this is far from the most content-stacked one of these games has been, there's still a decent amount of stuff to do and enough variety in events for you to get your money's worth. Though why Polyphony thought it was a good idea to bring back those stupid "One Lap Magic" challenges that make you wait a whole minute before you can retry it, I'll never understand.
There was also a bit of talk around launch over how getting the best cars in the game was a complete grindfest, making people suspiciously eyeball the microtransactions that are in the game, but if that was ever an issue it's mostly been fixed in post - the weekly challenges in particular go a long way to giving you quite a lot of money. Those 10 million credits cars are definitely still a nightmare to get, though they are also pretty frivulous so I guess it's not a huge deal.
Oh, uh, one more elephant in the room - always online requirement. Please don't, Polyphony. Just stop it.
I like the Cafe system and the way it handles progression, which I think is a slightly hot take. It's pretty far from the "caRPG" grind progression that GT made its name on, and the game does kinda vomit cars at you, but it's satisfying to get those cars and you do roughly get better and better cars as it goes on, so the progression isn't completely absent. Probably not for nothing that this is actually the first GT game where I've seen the career through to the credits.
And the game makes really good use out of the PS5 hardware as well. Not only in the obvious that the game is absolutely stunning, a candidate for the best looking racing game ever made, but also in justifying that SSD. Seriously, this series has had absolutely brutal load times since the PS3, and it's crazy to play an entry where loading into a race takes about half a second. The fact that getting in and out of menus is also super snappy helps make up for the parts where they're laid out in a clunky matter. (Seriously, why do I have to back out to the garage to tune the car instead of just doing it from the parts shop?_
Core racing feels about as solid as GT's ever been, and while this is far from the most content-stacked one of these games has been, there's still a decent amount of stuff to do and enough variety in events for you to get your money's worth. Though why Polyphony thought it was a good idea to bring back those stupid "One Lap Magic" challenges that make you wait a whole minute before you can retry it, I'll never understand.
There was also a bit of talk around launch over how getting the best cars in the game was a complete grindfest, making people suspiciously eyeball the microtransactions that are in the game, but if that was ever an issue it's mostly been fixed in post - the weekly challenges in particular go a long way to giving you quite a lot of money. Those 10 million credits cars are definitely still a nightmare to get, though they are also pretty frivulous so I guess it's not a huge deal.
Oh, uh, one more elephant in the room - always online requirement. Please don't, Polyphony. Just stop it.